The LP draws on old-style American folk but expertly remodels it for a contemporary audience. [Jun 2012, p.70]

It's fascinating territory and Merchandise sound like a band still exploring thier huge potential. [Aug 2013, p.73]

It's a deeply fun record that radiates vivacity and, most endearingly, sounds like a band who still truly love what they do. [Jan 2025, p.35]

Buck's monotone and his lack of truly cutting statements make this a dour experience. [Sep 2005, p.100]

Just about every songs clicks. [Oct 2011, p.84]

Curious webs of blurry guitar, analogue keyboard and cranky drum machine, song like 'Blue Lights' resemble a lower-than-lo-fi Cure, where ramshakle recording and budget texture becomes part of the appeal. [Jun 2009, p.83]

His solo debut is simple and earthy, leaning on little more than organ, warm acoustic guitar and his wondrous singing, carrying the betraying quaver of a man who feels a little too much. [May 2012, p.78]

Ultimately you're left frustrated by the safety first approach. [Mar 2014, p.71]

It seems he's at peace with trip-hop and his legacy. However, the punky "Dark Days" with Mina Rose and a minimal take on Hole's "Doll Parts" with singer Avalon Lurks suggests he remains restless for what might be over the next smoky horizon. [Nov 2017, p.36]

Dramatic and ravishing, 100 Acres of Sycamore is some achievement.

There are plenty of enjoyable moments on Winterval, but this masks a slightly hollow core. [Dec 2012, p.79]

Martyn's voice has taken a few knocks, but the weathered quality adds character. [May 2014, p.77]

There's plenty to admire--not least "Without You" and "Innocence"--but you sense their moment may have passed. [Oct 2014, p.71]

Songs are largely centered on shrill, surfy guitar and all of then are built to be absorbed, affixed to undulating rhythms that ebb and flow before they eventually slip into a groove. [Dec 2015, p.78]

Vance's earnest balladeering often sounds overly safe. [Jun 2016, p.82]

Producer Kwesi Sey has upped the dramatic ante throughout. [Jul 2017, p.25]

Russell was clearly fully committed to the project, with sincere lyrics and a strained, emotional vocal sustained by luscious strings. [Dec 2017, p.30]

It won't cure humanity's ills, but it does a fine job of rejuvenating a band entering its third decade. [Mar 2018, p.22]

Vide Noir unspools with cinematic seamlessness, as quicksilver psychedelic buffers bridge its 12 tracks, which shift between folk, country and heartland rock. [Jun 2018, p.30]

There are moments when the orchestrated bathos feels promising. .... But the lyrical clunkers pile up and ultimately capsize an intriguing venture into sophisti-pop. [Aug 2024, p.39]

By far their boldest statement yet. [Apr 2007, p.92]

Come for songs and you'll be left wanting, but as a holy distillation of Moore's influences, Spirit Counsel impresses. [Oct 2019, p.30]

It's an album that takes pleasure in its capacity to quietly, seductively surprise. [Aug 2018, p.28]

At times ethereal and romantic, at others eerie and queasy, it's completely different, but equally worthy, addition to this autheur's overlooked and original canon. [Nov 2018, p.18]

The somber mood is finally blown away by Crazy Horse-style closer "So Long" as The Lumineers churn into intriguing new territory while doggedly holding onto their entrenched melancholy. [Apr 2025, p.35]

Frequently intoxicating. [Jan 2004, p.103]

Less reactionary souls will thrill to the dynamic Zoo. [Apr 2012, p.73]

Tracks here borrow from the likes of Breach and Disclosure, and, as on "Buffalo," can be weedily underpowered where they once impressively unhinged. [Sep 2014, p.69]

The execution is consistently weak. [Aug 2013, p.79]

Klaxons bristle with energy and ideas. [Feb 2007, p.77]

Santigold never flags in her campaign to capture the dwindling attention spans of modern pop fans. [Feb 2016, p.79]

There are flashes of brilliance here, but you do long for a wink or a flicker of wit. [Feb 2010, p.88]

There's nothing particularly jaw-dropping about it, and at times it's too cute and wimpy, but it's a decent change in direction from diskJokke's cosmic house sides. [Aug 2011, p.82]

It's an immersive and emphatically pulsing ride along Detroit techno lines. [Oct 2015, p.77]

Content's fiery funk will have you bouncing around and beaming at the return of this inspiring, influential unit. [Feb 2011, p.87]

Kweller is a disarming presence and an unpretentious sonic architect. [Mar 2012, p.90]

The swinging, jazz-country arangements are perfect, too, hitching the polished, romantic sophistication of the songs to a down-home, rootsy bonhomie that draws comparison with Dylan's reinterpretations of the Sinatra songbook on 2015's Shadows In the Night. [Apr 2016, p.78]

Like coiled springs, this Manchester four-piece fire out jabs of tight pop-punk energy that seem created with the intention of filling an indie dancefloor. [Jul 2016, p.79]

Much of what is great about Stockholm's Holograms can be located in their debut single "ABC City," a testament of the "desolation" of the grim suburbs of their home city delivered in a rowdy street-punk sneer. [Oct 2012, p.81]

There's a couple tunes that rise above the general lo-fi languor. But you get the feeling they could carry on like this, lost in unchanging adolescent reverie, forever. [Jun 2009, p.83]

You Know Who You Are is a smart, dynamic effort that breaks some new ground. [Apr 2016, p.76]

Inventively employing computer "tweakery," Lytle concocts synthesized symphonies and celestial chorales, with emotional charged results. [Nov 2012, p.77]

They're pop-culture-versed update on the Gravesiggaz, murky collective efforts like "NY (Ned Flanders)" popping with grisly imagination. [Jun 2012, p.80]

Emily Haines is still secretly one of the most articulate, compelling performers in modern rock. [Feb 2006, p.70]

Seven tracks, 31 minutes, and not a duff second in sight. [Oct 2002, p.104]

The music is strikingly minimal throughout, the emphasis is firmly on The Word and the Beastie Boys have plenty left to say. [Jul 2004, p.108]

At once punchy and overwrought, and blessed with some extremely good, if slightly monotonous, tunes. [Nov 2003, p.120]

All tasteful minimalism and soft lighting, this is more Vangelis than adventurous. [Sep 2004, p.108]

The four tracks involving [Lopes] are superb.... Elsewhere, they audibly struggle. [Jan 2003, p.119]

The saturation bombing technique is only partly successful. [Nov 2006, p.123]

Five American Portraits, another collaboration with conceptual art group Art & Language, combines the two [awkward rock music and high conceptualism]: these simple, rough portraits of George W Bush, Wile E Coyote, etc, while each song musically quotes relevant tunes. [Mar 2010, p.93]

Even when the prevailing mood of introspective understatement threatens to sink into the maudlin or overwrought, there's an urgency about This Path Tonight that keeps things buoyant. [May 2016, p.77]

Not exactly groundbreaking, but not reverentially retro either, and full of fizz and vigour. [Sep 2016, p.74]

While there's a shining beauty that recalls Stereolab and The Sugarcubes, the mood is overwhelmingly melancholic and extremely infectuious. [Dec 2016, p.35]

Overall there's little evolution from previous albums here. [Jul 2019, p.30]

There are strong moments, from the sweet, mixtape-ready “Backup Plan” to “Sweet Tooth”, which brings pep and rockier guitar. But Moss badly needs a bit more Upside Down energy. [Oct 2022, p.29]

A satisfying whole that demonstrates Taylor's mastery of his peculiar strain of zonked late-night soul. [May 2018, p.35]

He's louder and stranger than ever, growling his way through 11 songs that mix stomping glam rackets with lumbering. [Sep 2017, p.26]

Coombes and Goffey undoubtedly had fun romping through "Queen Bitch," or tackling "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" in the style of The Zombie, but you'll never play this album more than once. [Apr 2010, p.91]

Only the most devoted Apple Scruff could truly love Extra Texture, or its two immediate predecessors, now. Wonderwall Music, however, documents an innocent optimism that will always be worth a listen.

Although there are no gaffes here, neither is there much to mark it out from their first. [Jul 2017, p.36]

Merritt's pure voice is mostly accompanied by gentle piano on a set of songs that ultimately lack the fire of her earlier work. [June 2008, p.100]

Influenced by visual artist John Baldessari, Pure Beauty explores strange sonic vistas. [Apr 2018, p.35]

If you wish The Hold Steady didn't look so clean, this is the band for you. [Aug 2008, p.113]

By turns oblique, soulful, scornful yet rarely dissonant. Rather, it's one of their lovelier, more formal offerings. [Mar 2005, p.108]

For newcomers, Is It The Sea? offers a neat summation of Oldham’s quiet industry, while it may just mark the turning point from his darker years.

It finds her singing in an appealing vibrato somewhere between Dolly Parton and Stevie Nicks. Her Aesthetic, though, is a million miles from the lacquered gloss of either as she delivers her lyrics of desperate melancholia over a raw, all-hope-is-gone sound which conjures the emotional brutality of Tonight's The Night. [Feb 2011, p.99]

The retro flavours are only one strand of an alert, impressive collaboration. [Dec 2011, p.104]

The songwriting is always of a high quality. [Mar 2012, p.79]

The Weighing Of The Heart marks a fresh start for Schott, whose decision to sing brings a warmth and intimacy to her music-box miniatures. [Jul 2013, p.73]

Rhubarb Rhubarb is scuzzy but smart, surging between primitive playfulness and something more malevolent. [Dec 2014, p.83]

Even if several songs see them veer too close to conventional power balladry or Joy Division karaoke, Holy Esque are mostly wise to favour the first part of the time-honoured go-big-or-go-home strategy. [Apr 2016, p.74]

Not quite the rebirth it might have been, but a welcome retread. [Jun 2016, p.73]

There's an appealing disjuncture at the heart of this collaboration. [Dec 2016, p.32]

Aged 85 and in grave health, Scott's superlative countertenor was weakening, but his expressive gifts are unerring. [Mar 2017, p.39]

Much of this is rather pedestrian ska with blandly topical lyrics referencing populism, social media and hashtags. However, "Remember Me" winds and grinds appealingly. [Nov 2017, p.36]

Wonky charmer of a third album. [Apr 2022, p.31]

It's hard to shake the feeling that this return to decay-drenched digital rock is the sound of Reznor playing to the gallery. [Jun 2005, p.97]

Hyperdrama boasts the same kind of air-punching swagger and imaginative ambition that made Random Access Memories so inescapable. It also benefits from a similarly formidable guestlist. [Jul 2024, p.35]

Circular Sounds is a collection of snappy, mildly psychedelic, instantly memorable songs, delivered with an unfussy and becoming modesty.

This Chicago quartet have refined the psychedelic, gothic post-punk racket of their 2018 debut into punchier, more memorable songs. [Oct 2020, p.31]

The theme of lost innocence is ideal for the sad sweetness of Conor Deasy’s voice, which has never sounded better than on 'This Year,' a rush of noise which restores the busked immediacy of their debut.

Travis continue to subtly experiment with their sound, and on this 10th studio set it regularly pays dividends. [Aug 2024, p.40]

If you find it impressive how AC/DC have spun three chords into a 30-year career, then you'll enjoy what they can do with a boxset: Backtracks comes with three CDs, two DVDs, all packaged inside a recession-friendly amplifier. [Jan 2010, p. 103]

Lollipop is their 13th Studio album, and one of their best. [Jun 2011, p.91]

All the usual Madness fixtures are present--the jaunty ska-meets-Motown rhythms, the tricksy chromatic chord changes, the well-crafted narratives. What much of the album lacks is any kind of heart. [Dec 2016, p.32]

Ghostly, atmospheric, intense, Colt is an impressive, if somewhat remote, debut. [Jul 2018, p.37]

They add multiple voices, such as Dina Ipavic and Penelope Isles. this can result in a slightly disjointed and incohesive listen, but sometimes, as with Anna B Savage on the pulsing "Home", they get the alchemy just right. [Mar 2023, p.32]

Vicious Creature is more compelling than Mayberry's Chvrches material, but may not be thrilling enough to take her where she wants to be. [Jan 2025, p.39]

A more refined classic techno sound, paying homage to his adopted hometown of Detroit. [Aug 2016, p.71]

Pure pleasure for lovers of deep soul music? Absolutely. [May 2013, p.73]

Under The Blacklight is by far and away the most accessible album that Rilo Kiley have ever made.

Watson is a master of both dynamics and arrangements, his songs ebbing and flowing with a restrained grace and striking sensitivity. [Jul 2012, p.85]

A paucity of strong tunes remains his Achilles heel, but no-one else does wasted decadence with such persuasive panache. [Feb 2015, p.80]

This merely draws attention to the fact that the old songs are better than the new ones. [Jan 2002, p.146]

"Never Too Late" sounds like an unhappy mix of Randy Newman and Arrested Development, and sometimes Franti sounds like a clap-happy Seal. [Jul 2003, p.130]

The result is both catchy and sadly predictable. [Jul 2013, p.77]

The fifth album by the Mo Wac founder's creative collective doesn't quite cut the mustard. [Sep 2017, p.38]